Ethanol Stocks Climb to 5-Week High

NEW YORK (DTN) -- Domestic ethanol supplies extended higher for the third straight week, with total inventories rising 500,000 barrels (bbl), or 3.4%, to a five-week high of 16.4 million bbl during the week-ended Apr. 4, boosted by rising imports while deliveries reach terminals at destination markets, data issued Wednesday, April 9, by U.S. Energy Information Administration showed.

The deficit for total ethanol stocks compared to a year earlier is now down to 1.4 million bbl, or 7.8%, with stocks rising along the Gulf and East coasts while steady in the Midwest and along the West Coast.

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The EIA data showed PADD 1 East Coast supplies increased 200,000 bbl to an eight-week high of 5.2 million bbl last week. PADD 3 Gulf Coast supplies jumped 300,000 bbl to 2.7 million bbl.

PADD 2 Midwest supplies were unchanged at 6.4 million bbl for the week reviewed. Inventories were unchanged in PADD 4 Rocky Mountain and PADD 5 West Coast at 300,000 bbl and 1.8 million bbl, respectively.

EIA also showed ethanol production at U.S. plants plunged last week from a 14-week high posted the prior week, falling 26,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 2.8%, to 896,000 bpd during the week-ended Apr. 4 while up 42,000 bpd or 4.9% from a year ago. Four-week average production at 896,000 bpd was up 11.9% from a year earlier.

Refiner and blender inputs, a proxy for demand, increased 2,000 bpd to 852,000 bpd while up 5,000 bpd, or 0.6%, from a year earlier. Four-week average input at 851,000 bpd was up 2.65% from a year earlier.

EIA reported that 38,000 bpd of ethanol was imported into the country last week, up from 11,000 bpd for the prior week. Of those imports, 28,000 bpd were received along the East Coast, while the rest were received along the West Coast.

(BM/AG)

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